Georgina Downs is a British journalist who is a campaigner on health effects of pesticides.[1][2] After experiencing chronic illness throughout her childhood and adolescence, she launched a campaign against the use of pesticides in industrial agriculture.[3]

Early life

In 1983, Downs moved with her family from Pagham, West Sussex, to a house next to agricultural fields near Chichester.[2][4] The nearest field adjoining the house and garden was initially used for grazing livestock, but shortly after she arrived, it was converted to arable land. According to Downs, over the following years, her health gradually worsened as the result of exposure to the pesticides used in the nearby fields. Medical tests at that time ruled out motor neurone disease and Parkinson's disease as the cause.[4]

UK pesticides campaign

After researching the subject of pesticides and their effects on human health, Downs decided to challenge government regulations. In 2008 she challenged the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the High Court of Justice, which ruled that the department did not comply with European Union regulations. The court ruled that Downs had provided "solid evidence" that residents had suffered harm to their health and that the existing approach to pesticide regulation in the UK was not, as DEFRA had argued, "reasonable, logical and lawful".[5][6]

DEFRA appealed the ruling, however, and it was overturned by the Court of Appeal in July 2009. The appeal judge, Lord Justice Sullivan, ruled that the High Court justice had substituted his own evaluation of the health effect of pesticides for the evidence provided by DEFRA.[7]

Downs said that the appeal judges had ignored the evidence that she had provided — and that the landmark High Court victory had been based on. She stated that she would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.[8]

In 2016 Downs launched a petition calling on the Prime Minister Theresa May to ban all crop spraying of pesticides near residents' homes, schools and playgrounds. The petition was signed by thousands of other rural residents also reporting adverse health impacts of crop spraying in their localities.[9] The petition was also signed and supported by English barrister Michael Mansfield QC, along with other high-profile environmentalists including Stanley Johnson, Jonathon Porritt, Gordon Roddick and Ben Goldsmith, amongst others.[9][10]

Affiliations and awards

Since 2006 Downs has been registered as a journalist with both the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists (BGAJ).[11][12]

Downs won a British Environment and Media Awards (BEMA) in 2006,[13] and was one of the winners at the inaugural Cosmopolitan Awards also in 2006 winning the Heroine award.[14]

In 2015 Downs was nominated for The Observer Ethical Awards to find the best green Briton. A report in The Guardian said her work "promotes a vision of a green and sustainable Britain where non-chemical and natural farming methods are widely adopted."[15]

Other work

Before starting her pesticides campaign full-time, Downs was a singer-songwriter, performing in various live acoustic venues including at the Kashmir Klub in London.[16][17][18] She has also played Matron Mama Morton in a local production of the musical Chicago.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "BCPC seeks validation on EU guidance on pesticide exposure assessment – Farming UK News". farminguk.com. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Hickman, Martin (16 February 2010). "Georgina Downs: Britain's Erin Brockovich". The Independent. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  3. ↑ Leake, Jonathan (1 April 2006). "CASE STUDY: campaigning against pesticides". The Ecologist. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 Christopher Booker; Richard North (17 January 2013). Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 446–. ISBN 978-1-4081-8345-8.
  5. ↑ Adam, David (14 November 2008). "Campaigner wins pesticides court battle". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Eccleston, Paul (14 November 2008). "Crop sprays a risk to health, rules High Court". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Adam, David (7 July 2009). "Court's reversal of pesticides decision prompts accusations of whitewash". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  8. ↑ King, Victoria (10 February 2010). "One-woman fight against government for pesticide ban". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Written evidence – UK Pesticides Campaign (paras 1.45 -1.51)". data.parliament.uk. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Stanley Johnson on Twitter".
  11. ↑ "Organic vs pesticides debate: still a hot potato (comments)". The Daily Telegraph. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  12. ↑ "Significant victory for campaigner as the Government is to finally change the policy approach for assessing the risk to public health from pesticides" (PDF). Pesdicides Campaign. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "Prince of Wales on Winner's Podium at WWF Environmental Awards". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "Fun Fearless Females, The Winners". Metro. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  15. ↑ "Observer Ethical Awards 2015: nominees for green Briton of the year". The Guardian. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  16. ↑ "Christopher Booker's Notebook". The Daily Telegraph. 4 May 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  17. ↑ "Christopher Booker's Notebook". The Daily Telegraph. 31 August 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  18. ↑ "Georgina Downs – 3 original songs at the Kashmir Klub". VIP productions. 22 November 2001. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2018.

Further reading

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